Citations and impact of Dutch astronomy

The aim of this study is to make a bibliometric comparison of the performance of research astronomers in the Netherlands Research School for Astronomy (NOVA) with astronomers elsewhere. This is complementary to similar studies as undertaken by the Center for Science and Technology Studies (CWTS), but has the specific feature of using the NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)1 and possibilities offered by it. We will use various indices for bibliometric performance for a sample of Dutch (NOVA) astronomers to compare to samples of astronomers worldwide, from the United States in general and from American top-institutes. Secondly, we will consider the results of the ‘Nederlands Observatorium van Wetenschap en Technologie’ (NOWT), the Netherlands Observatory of Science and Technology, which regularly publishes a report ‘Science and Technology Indicators’2. We will try and reproduce those results using publication lists from institutions in the Netherlands, again using ADS, and examine and discuss the conclusions and indications from these reports.